You Didn't Fail
by blackwidow73
Summary: As per request, a follow up to Sick Day. Linda's upset and Bob find out the real reason.


"Lin?" Bob called out as he made his way up the staircase.

Although he had been worried about her, he wasn't able to just close the restaurant and coe check up on her right away. There were still other customers there after her little incident and he couldn't afford to lose the money. They had another child on the way, one that would need food, water, clothing, doctors appointments. They needed all the money they could get right now from the small amount of customers that they received on a daily basis.

Bob made his way to the top, still no response. She was up there though, muttering under her breath, he could hear it. As he turned the corner, he could see Linda pacing around the playpen, her arms crossed over her chest. Little Tina was sitting there, watching intently as her mother moved about the room.

Linda had been a little more edgier than usual. She was six months pregnant, but there was something else that had to have been bothering her. There was a tenseness that filled the room whenever she was present. That never really happened when she was pregnant with Tina, not that he recalled anyways.

"What happened down there?" He asked, coming to a stop beside the couch.

Linda stopped for a second, looking to him. Her cheeks filled with red, her temper rising as she stared. She could physically feel her skin heating up.

"Do you know what that man said to me?" She questioned, ready to start yelling.

He honestly had no real idea of what it was that was said. All he knew was that he was in the kitchen and he heard Linda yelling at him, telling him to get out of there and never come back. That was enough to grab his attention and bring him out to the counter.

Part of him felt as though his wife was probably overreacting to something. There was a good chance that she had misheard something or misunderstood. She seemed to be taking a lot of things very personal lately. Even he had to tiptoe around her. And that was why he was going to take her side on this no matter what she told him.

"That jerk had the nerve to tell me that maybe I shouldn't be serving food!" She yelled, pointing down towards the floor.

If anything, the man seemed concerned to her, but she couldn't help but take it as an insult. And it burned her even worse when she saw Bob apologize to him. She wasn't supposed to see it, but she saw it. She saw her husband go out there and take someone else's side over hers.

Bob stood there, clueless as to how he should be reacting. He just stared at her, looking for something to say that would calm her, at least a little. It wasn't good for her to be getting this worked up over tiny things.

"I'm sorry he said that," he stated, hesitation lacing his voice.

"Then why'd you talk to him after?" She inquired.

The anger was forced now, as a wave a betrayal hit her. Maybe she was still angry, or maybe all she felt was hurt. Either way, whatever she was feeling was amplified by his presence and she needed to get out of there.

Bob's heart sank as soon as he heard the question. He had no idea what to tell her at this point. It wasn't as though he could say that he wanted to apologize to the man. And it was quite obvious that she knew he hadn't chewed him out for anything.

"You think he's right don't you?" She accused.

She wasn't sure whether or not she truly believed that, but she did know that he should have supported her.

"Of course not!" Bob answered.

There wasn't much that she could say to that, and the fact that she knew he was telling the truth made her even more upset. There was no argument. She should have been decently happy, but she wasn't. A part of her wanted that fight. It were as though she needed this release, a huge blow up at someone, anyone for anything.

The lack of anything to be mad at only made her frustration that much worse. She was even too annoyed to begin to think of anything to say to him.

"Just leave me alone!" She snapped as she made her past him and slammed the door to their room.

Bob was left to just stand there, staring back over his shoulder in shock. Was it possible that he had said something offensive to her? All without remembering it?

"Dada!"

The little whimper brought him back to reality as he turned back and looked to his daughter standing in the playpen with her arms stretched up, her hands grabbing at the air. It was her signal for someone to come and get her out of there.

"I'm sorry, Tina," he said as he went and picked her up. He was thinking that maybe she had been a tiny bit startled from the fight. If you could call it a fight, that was. He wasn't too sure he knew what had just happened here.

Tina didn't care about the fighting. All she wanted was to be with her mommy. So as soon as Bob went to carry her, she struggled to get out of his grip.

"Down," she requested.

Bob was somewhat confused. Usually she loved to be carried. He wasn't about to argue though, it was time that she really started getting around on her own.

As soon as he set her down on the ground, she started toddling towards the room. "Bye Dada," she said as she went towards the closed door and sat down right outside. She looked up to the handle with widened eyes, patient as ever as she waited for it to open.

"Linda! Tina wants in!" He called out, hoping that she wouldn't ignore him.

Linda had been sitting on the edge of the bed, crying. All she wanted was to be left alone right now, but she wasn't about to just let Tina sit out there. She knew that the girl would wait forever if she had to. She was more patient than most people she knew.

Sniffling, she got up and headed over to open the door. "Come in, Tina," she gently said, looking down and watching as her daughter got to her feet and walked into the room.

She closed the door, making sure to not slam it this time since she didn't want to startle Tina. Turning around, she saw the little girl attempting to climb up onto the bed and went to help her.

"Careful sweetie," she stated as Tina got herself situated on the edge of the bed.

Linda went to sit next to her, wiping her tears dry as she watch her attempt to stand. The toddler stood with wobbly legs, holding onto her mother's arm for support.

She could see that her mom was upset, and that bothered her. It was weird seeing her cry. So she did what Linda would do to try and help her. Once she was standing she rested her head on her shoulder and tried her best to hug her.

The small act of comfort did bring a smile to her face. "Thank you, sweetie," she replied before leaning over and planting a kiss on the top of her head.

Tina took off her glasses and set them down on top of Linda's belly bump and sat and cuddled against her.

Linda sighed, taking the glasses and carefully setting them down beside her. "Is my little baby tired?" She questioned, wrapping her arm around her.

"Linda?" Bob called from the other side of the door.

Standing there, he just watched the door, hoping that maybe her silence was a good sign. He needed to be able to fully apologize. Even though he wasn't all too sure of everything that he had done wrong, he was still genuinely sorry. The last thing that he ever wanted to do was hurt her.

It took her a moment to react. She knew that it wasn't really him that she was mad at. It was herself. That's what most of this was all about, a small guilt that she harvested that was beginning to surface.

"It's open," she responded, somewhat weak.

Remaining stoic, she waited until she heard the door open before looking up to him. It was obvious what he was here for, he was about to say sorry. This time, he shouldn't be the one apologizing, it was her turn. She was the one who had been at fault. She was the one that caused a scene at the restaurant, the one that drove away a customer, and the one who has been taking out all her anger on others.

She was the reason that all the other kids Tina's age were talking more and walking around more and more advanced than her. It was all her fault.

She loved Tina to death, and she knew that she was bright and would go on to do great things. She just couldn't help feeling as though somehow she had been holding her back.

Bob stayed at the door, examining the scene before him to try and figure out what he should be saying right now. There was no reason to be so cautious though, the air felt relaxed. His wife didn't seem to want to argue anymore. It was actually heart breaking to see her so quiet, nearly defeated.

"Everything okay?"

Linda shook her head. "I'm sorry," she choked out, her eyes brimming with tears.

That was certainly something that he hadn't prepared himself to hear. "Why?" He inquired, his brow furrowed in confusion.

"I'm scaring off the customers, failing at raising our daughter, probably going to screw this one up too," she rambled on, beginning to get worked up.

Bob took a few steps closer, wondering where she had even gotten the idea that she had failed. Perhaps he had messed up somewhere along the way. He knew he was awkward and probably not that great at caring for kids, but she seemed to be pretty natural with it. She always appeared to know how to calm Tina and how to make her feel better when she was sick and all of that. He had to learn by watching her.

"You realize how insane you sound right now, right?" He asked, not meaning to offend her.

"What do you mean?" She implored, getting ready to sob as she stared to him with tears pouring down her cheeks.

He awkwardly motioned towards Tina. "I mean look at her," he began. "She's almost two and she followed you in here to try and make you feel better. And she didn't force you to let her in."

He took a second to watch as Tina began to doze off, a small smile touching his lips. "That's actually pretty impressive. I have no idea how we managed that, but you did something right."

"I don't know, Bobby," she stated, her tears beginning to cease. "I think she's just kinda like that. I don't think that was us."

Bob sighed. All he wanted was to get her to see that she hadn't failed and he was finding out that she was about to make that impossible.

"Well, you didn't screw her up, that's always a good thing," he said as he moved the glasses before taking a seat beside his wife.

"I guess," she answered.

"She's happy, pretty well behaved, healthy. What made you think there was something wrong?"

"I saw other people with their kids," she admitted. "A toddler ordered for himself."

Bob just stared to her for a second. He didn't want to laugh, she was obviously troubled by the experience. It just seemed odd. To him it didn't even seem responsible to allow a kid so young to order by themselves. It sounded like it could end up being a waste of money.

"Maybe they taught him how so that they could spend more time looking at the drinks menu," he joked.

Linda sighed, emitting a soft laugh. "That's not funny Bob, I'm actually worried," she told him.

"It's not like she can't talk, she just chooses to be quiet. Some people are like that," he explained.

She wasn't sure whether or not she believed it, but she loved that Bob was going through the trouble. And she never was really all that worried before now. Maybe here and there, like when it took a long time for Tina to say hi or mommy.

"You really think everything is alright?"

"Yes, I do," Bob flatly answered.

"Thank you," she responded, her expression softening as she went to rest her head on her husband's shoulder.

Bob sighed, wrapping his arm around Linda. "Feel better?"

"A little," she answered, her voice slightly muffled.

"Enough to not yell at the customers?" He inquired.

"Depends on how they act," she honestly told him. There were some that deserved to get their heads ripped, that she fully believed.

Bob just nodded, staring straight ahead. Maybe she would yell at a few more people, chase away. And maybe Tina would be nearly silent the rest of her life. All that mattered though was that he had his family, his wife was kind of happy, as much as she could be, and both of his kids, as far as he knew, were all right.

"Oh my God," he flatly stated, figuring that she would probably chase away more people than they could afford.


End file.
